Dungeons & Dragons: Best Feats For Better Encounters
Dungeons & Dragons parties generally thrive in encounters when every character is playing to their strengths. With the careful choice of feats, players are able to further power up their characters so that they can contribute during a fight. While choosing the best D&D feats isn't a must, it will certainly help when the party comes face to face with some of the game's tougher creatures.
One of the most useful feats for tanking in D&D, Sentinel helps to ensure the rest of the party is kept safe. Sentinel allows a character to stop enemies in their tracks, and also allows them to make additional attacks when creatures hit the character's allies. Since archers and most spellcasters are at their best from a distance, being able to keep enemies away from them is a major boost to the party.
Going first during combat is a major advantage in Dungeons & Dragons, and the Alert feat gives players the best chance to do so. Alert allows a player to add +5 to their initiative roll, and when combined with a decent Dexterity score should mean a character goes first the majority of the time. Alert has the added bonus of preventing creatures from sneaking up on the character, which could help players to avoid sneaky enemies looking to steal from them or hurt them.
One of the more underrated feats in D&D, Mage Slayer, is also one of the game's best options for taking down magic users. With so many different options, spellcasters can be some of the most unpredictable enemies in Dungeons & Dragons, and having a character who specializes in taking them out can keep a party alive. Not only do characters with Mage Slayer have a an advantage on saving throws against spells cast nearby, they can also break an enemy's concentration easier and make additional opportunity attacks. When paired with class abilities such as an Oath of the Ancients Paladin's Aura of Warding, enemy spellcasters will have a hard time doing anything against a player's party.
Concentration is one of the most important things for spellcasters to keep in mind in D&D, and the War Caster feat makes it much easier to do. With advantage on saves to maintain concentration, players are less at-risk of wasting their best spell slots during a fight. War Caster also allows players to cast spells while wielding weapons or shields in both hands, something that is perfect for "gish" builds like Bards and Hexblades. What makes War Caster even better is the ability to cast spells in place of opportunity attacks. Considering how much damage a single spell can deal in D&D, being able to use them as opportunity attacks is one way to obliterate enemies quickly.
Encounters can be one of the most fun parts of a D&D campaign, but they can also be stressful. By choosing feats that work well with their character builds, players can ensure their party is ready to fight no matter what Dungeons & Dragons enemies they have to face.